How Does America Solve Food Deserts? Essay

1034 WordsNov 1, 20165 Pages

How does America Solve Food Deserts? In Eric Holt-Gimenez’s article, “The Fight over Food Deserts: Corporate America Smacks Its Way Down”, the author provides answers the food desert epidemic facing the United States today. A food desert is an area in which fresh and nutritious food is not readily available to the masses. Whether it be because of economic or geographic reasons, the fresh ingredients are often scarce and expensive. Gimenez first addresses the corporate aspect of food desert problem and how the big box companies are looking to take advantage of impoverished neighborhoods (Holt-Gimenez 525). Next, Gimenez states a solution to the problem; improving wages for the working class, not providing big business with more money to move into local areas(Holt-Gimenez 526-527). While I agree with Gimenez that having the government fund the big chain stores is not the solution; I do not think that raising the minimum wage is the answer. To solve the food desert problem, the farmers and local grocers need to be funded by the government. First, our nationwide economy cannot support a minimum wage of something like $15 per hour. The United States dollar is not the same in Idaho as it is in Washington. Our dollar carries different values per state and the state by state minimum wages support this. In Washington, the minimum wage is $9.49, while Idaho has the nationally allowed low of $7.25. This can be attributed to a variety of reasons: exports, education, and availability

Food deserts are defined as areas of relatively poor access to healthy and affordable food. This phenomenon is thought to contribute to social disparities in diet and diet-related health outcomes, such as cardiovascular disease and obesity (Beaulac, Kristjansson, Cummins, 2009). The term “food desert” reportedly originated in Scotland in the early 1990s to describe poor access to an affordable and healthy diet (Beaulac, Kristjansson, Cummins, 2009). Although food deserts can mean a literal absence

the deadliest places when left stranded without proper supplies are deserts. The most popular ones are the Sahara, Arabian, Mojave, and Food. Food? Yes, as much as people say that’s nonsense, a food desert is an occurring anomaly that impacts many people around the world, and in the United States. A food desert is a place where people do not have access to natural healthy food, however they do have access to cheap unhealthy food. Those areas today tend to be densely populated urban communities that

thousands of Chicagoans live in what’s known as a food desert. A food desert is in an area of focus that is short on access to fresh meat and produce. These areas are usually over populated with packaged and processed foods, which are not always healthy. They also have a significant amount junk that you can easily find in convenience stores and fast food restaurants.
What exactly qualifies a neighborhood to be part of a food desert? Food deserts usually have a bunch of blocks without a corner grocery

Food Deserts There is growing trend of cities across the United States that do not have access to food such as places in Buffalo, Baltimore, or Detroit. According to the USDA, a food desert is to qualify as a “low-access community,” at least 500 people and/or at least 33 percent of the census tract 's population must reside more than one mile from a supermarket or large grocery store (for rural census tracts, the distance is more than 10 miles). You can even look up a food desert locater

to produce healthy foods. The increasing amount of food deserts and lack of family income contributes to African-American obesity rates, and lack of healthy choices. Ironically, these food desserts reside in communities plagued by poverty. These income restrictions also add to the problems that are part of being in a food desert.
Literature Review
Mari Gallagher(2006). Examining the Impact of Food Deserts on Public Health in Chicago
Food deserts are places where healthy foods are not produced nor

Food deserts are one of the main causes of obesity in lower income areas, and while initiatives are being created to solve this problem, more than just a few initiatives are needed to change the obesity issue.
Over 60 million people are obese in the world today. The socioeconomic statuses of the Americans play a major part in the obesity rates across the country. People with higher incomes are less likely to be obese than people with lower incomes. One in every seven preschool-aged children

The foreclosure crisis in America can only be resolved by every American citizen working together to build a stronger America by changing the way we make decisions for expenditures in our lives. We must stop overextending ourselves beyond our economic means. The foreclosure crisis of America has been caused by Americans borrowing money to purchase a home that they cannot afford. Lending agencies have allowed Americans to borrow more money to buy a home than they can afford. Each lending agency

The issues of obesity and food deserts are important, and many people have questions about these topics. What makes this important though? To dig even deeper, what are the significant factors of both topics? The answer to the most pressing subject of modern times will now be determined.
Why is the topic really that important? Essentially, who is it important to? A person has traditionally been considered to be obese if they are more than 20 percent over their ideal weight. Also, the recent peak

Barrera
Geography
Matthew Piscelli
November 19, 2014
Food Deserts
One huge problem that the United States faces today are the large numbers of food deserts. A food desert, according to the United States department of Agriculture, is a neighborhood that has a difficult time getting quality and affordable food to their home. This means that people are not properly being fed and getting the nutrition needed for a healthy diet. The good quality food that is needed to maintain this balance is not near

How does America’s current food economy almost force consumers to partake in dangerous food practices?
Word Count: 1118
The food economy in America has gone through numerous and substantial changes during the past couple decades. The changes, although economically beneficial for America as a whole, are becoming a detriment to the health of our society. Perhaps the biggest innovation is the rise of fast food culture. The mass fast food monopoly is growing more and more every day, and with the aid